Pete Rose is apologizing for his comments made in an interview earlier this week when he said that he had "picked the wrong vice" and if he were a drug user or beat his wife, instead of gambling, he would still be in the game.

Here are the original statements: "I made mistakes. I can't whine about it. I’m the one that messed up and I'm paying the consequences. However, if I am given a second chance, I won’t need a third chance. And to be honest with you, I picked the wrong vice. I should have picked alcohol. I should have picked drugs or I should have picked up beating up my wife or girlfriend because if you do those three, you get a second chance. They haven’t given too many gamblers a second chances in the world of baseball.”

On Tuesday, he issued an apology.

"If I've learned anything over the past 24 years since my banishment from baseball, it's to own up to my failures right away," Rose said, according to radio station 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh. "I was feeling sorry for myself when I compared my vice to others, including abuse and drinking. Of course, all vices are not to be excused. I know gambling almost destroyed baseball and I have accepted the way Commissioners Giamatti, Vincent and Selig acted toward me."

Rose received a lifetime ban in 1989 for gambling on Reds' games. His name has resurfaced lately in news stories when it was rumored Alex Rodriguez was facing a lifetime ban (he did not receive one).